A/V Publications, How much credit do you give them?

Originally Posted by craig john

Depending how you calculate ceiling height, you're probably at somewhere between 8,400 and 9,500 cubic feet. That is a *very* large HT room. Standard "audiophile" speakers will struggle mightily in a space that large. So will a pair of single-driver subs. You'll need real horsepower to drive that room. How loud do you like to watch movies?

Can you increase your budget?

Craig

Originally Posted by Snowmanick

Depends on the publication and the reviewers for me, but overall I do not buy into the conspiracy theory that they only give positive reviews to draw in and satisfy advertisers. Particularly with regards to publications that have thorough bench tests that they publish on products.

As for opinions/subjective area's, again it depends on the publication and reviewer as some seem to have tastes that are either similar to mine or not. As RonaldCombs said above, when reading certain ones over time and auditioning gear myself I have been able to see who has what tastes.

As for your speaker choices, they are both very good speakers but have different presentations. I currently own DefTech Mythos STS's with dual SVS PB13-Ultra's and rather like them (ok I really like them). Overall I prefer the STS's over the Studio 60's but prefer the dedicated centers from Paradigm. Talk to your dealer about an in-home audition for both towers at the same time, go back and forth between them, see which you prefer and go from there. That is the best way to avoid any remorse/second guessing.

Originally Posted by tlag

At risk of sounding like a shill, do consider Tweak City Audio mains and subs. If you can increase your budget, think Danley and/or Seaton for mains and subs. Forget the audiophile mainstream; that's where I came from...

Originally Posted by mjg100

Then maybe you should go with Bose. Everybody has heard of them. You dissed some of the best advice that you were given in this thread.

Originally Posted by craig john

The "height" of the ceiling, if you're using ceiling tiles, will be the height of the overhead floor above the dropped ceiling. The tiles are relatively transparent to sound, (or somewhat absorptive), so you don't get any significant reflection or room gain from them. The surface above them is the actual boundary acoustically.


Unless you completely close off the adjoining space, the entire space needs to be considered acoustically, at least for the bass. For the speakers, distance from the listening position is more important.


I am using "audiophile" speakers to describe the class of speakers used for home audio, whether that is HT or music. I differentiate them from "pro" audio type speakers. Most home audio or audiophile speakers are modest sensitivity, (88 to 92 dB/1 watt/1 meter), and power handling, (100 to 150 watts.) Speakers like this can sound good, but they will struggle to output enough sound for full, theater-like movie sound, especially in a bg room.

In an "audiophile" speaker, there are few choices that provide high sensitivity with high power handling to put out high SPL's. Klipsch is probably the best bet in this regard, and their higher-end speakers could be a good choice for you. If you can, find a place to demo them,

The "pro" type speakers are generally, by design, high sensitivity, high power handling and provide high SPL capability. They often use pro drivers to get these characteristics. Some examples would be the aforementioned TCA Pro-10's, Danley and JTR speakers. Other "pro" speakers have built-in amplification, such as Seaton Sound, Genelec, JBL Pro, etc. Either way, they provide ample SPL capability to reproduce movie soundtracks the way they were intended.

In this group, the JTR's could be an excellent choice for you:
http://jtrspeakers.com/home-audio/triple-12ht/
It's above your stated price point, but with 101 dB sensitivity and 1,600 watt power handling, it could do a terrific job in your large space.

For bass, it will require massive output to fill a large space with deep, loud bass for movies. It will take multiple good sized drivers to move enough air to pressurize the space. Here are some suggestions, but you should take this question to the subwoofer forum:
http://jtrspeakers.com/home-audio/growler-duo/
http://www.danleysoundlabs.com/tappe...MODEL=DTS%2010
http://www.hsuresearch.com/products/uls15quaddrive.html
http://www.epiksubwoofers.com/empire.html (4 of them)
http://www.edesignaudio.com/product_...roducts_id=891 (2 of them)
http://www.edesignaudio.com/product_...roducts_id=408 (2 of them)
http://www.seaton-sound-forum.com/post?id=4786427 (2 of them)

All these choices will require a higher budget than your current budget. To stay within budget, I suggest the Klipsch speakers and then get as much sub as you can afford.

Craig

Originally Posted by Snowmanick

The Studio 60's were very neutral (a plus) but just didn't get into my music as much. I love jazz music and with the STS, when set up right, I really enjoyed the soundstages depth and focus. Also, especially on trumpets and other brass instruments, I felt as though I could, if you'll excuse a bit of hyperbole, hear down the throat of the instrument. The bass is also very tight, my wife adores the aesthetics, and it was the only floorstanding speaker both of us enjoyed listening to. My wife actually started to listen to more music after we got them, which is fun for both of us. The Studio 60's were good in all of the above, but the STS's won by a smidgen. On a side note, while I normally leave my speaker grills on as I have two cats, the STS's sound even better with them off to my ears, give them a shot without the grills when auditioning and see what you think.

If I were to do it again...that's hard to say as there are a lot of options in that price range. A lot depends on your listening habits, desires, tastes. I have a smaller room than yours, about 4,300 cubic feet in total. Still not small but not huge. If I were to do it again I think I'd try 5 x Paradigm Sig S2's with dual SVS Ultra's or Hsu ULS-15's. Or stick with the system I have, which is pretty nice to my ears.

If you are looking for very responsive, loud but still accurate speakers than 3 x JTR 888, dual slant 8's and the biggest, baddest subs you can afford. I personally don't listen all that loud and while I like dynamic speakers, I have no problems with more traditional designs. To each their own though. Some really enjoy having very powerful, theater-like to better capabilities and enjoy speakers that give them that.

I agree with you on the import of R&D, as well as service and support before, during and after the sale. So those tend to factor into my decisions, as do aesthetics as my system is in my living room and needs to fit into it.

Originally Posted by TheWind

My take on the credibility of audio and video mags is a little like the old saying: You don't bite the hand that feeds you. (Nor the hand that you want to feed you.)

For whatever economic reasons, American and British mags have historically been fed by completely different kinds of hands. American mags survive on advertising bought by brands/manufacturers; the Sonys, HKs Definatives, Polks, etc, etc, etc of the world. British mags have traditionally lived off advertising bought by retailers. As a result British mags are freer to compare and do their Shootouts and Supertests where they take similarly priced, competing products and actually grade them. Whether the mag is correct or not is another story but, in these tests the mags actually pick winners and losers; saying in plain English that they think one is better than the other. They can even say that a product is downright lousy without offending their advertisers too much because retailers carry products from a range of differernt manufacters.

American mags won't do these head-to-head reviews because it would offend manufactures and cost the mags advertising income. American mag reveiws are usually written in a manner that just confirms the bias or belief of the reader. Two readers with opposite opinions of a certain receiver will both think that the review of that receiver corroborates what they already thought. In fact, American mags seldom give bad reviews. And when it comes to comparisons, forget about it. Their comparisons almost always go something like this:

This Acme Unlimited XR1 speaker sounds quite a bit better than the TransTech AT-9 that we reviewed last month but, to be fair, the TransTech AT-9 does sell for less than a third as much as the XR1. We were surprised by the clarity and transparancy of the XR1; traits that one doesn't neccesarily expect from all the speakers in this price category. We became curious as to how well the XR1 might measure up to Exotec Fidelity's famed flagship speaker The Immortal' with its six figure per speaker price tag and sporting the very latest, front and up firing, self tuning, laser supertweeters. While the XR1 certainly held its own, when compared to the 29 driver , 950 lb. (per speaker), 17 foot tall Immortals, the XR1s high frequencys were perhaps a touch more metallic and brittle and their imaging may have seemed ever so slightly more veiled in fogginess. Again, this is compared to The Immortals'; speakers that some consider to be perhaps one of the five or six finest speakers in the world and which cost as much as the XR1s plus a house in which to listen to them ..
....To sum up, the XR1s surpassed our expectations. Indeed, we think that Acme Unlimited's XR1s sound almost as good as some other speakers costing almost two, or even three, times as much and we think they should be considered a must audition for anyone looking for a speaker like this.
.

Originally Posted by craig john

dstr212,

You asked the wrong question in your OP. If you just wanted help with your HT, you should have never asked about magazine reviews... This discussion always breaks down into arguments. Just sayin'.

Your Emotiva amps should be fine with the JTR speakers. You should be able to play that system at Ref. Level without strain. SQ will definitely not suffer from these speakers. With such high sensitivity, (101 dB/1 watt/1 meter), the system will be playing back well within it's capabilities. Distortion and compression will be greatly diminished.

You'll definitely want subs that will "keep up" with the speakers/amps.

Good luck.

Craig